STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF GIFTEDNESS

While in education the views of adults are taken into account, the students are rarely consulted, not even the gifted ones! This paper reports on a small scale study carried out in a large Australian school to investigate student perceptions of giftedness, preferred teacher qualities and ways of providing for gifted students in the school setting. The views of gifted and average students were compared. While the study has limitations, interesting similarities and differences were found between responses of the two groups. If these views were found to be held by larger number of students, it would be important for adults to take note of them. In any case, such documentation and examination of student perceptions on the study topics might give teachers and policy makers some empirical basis for action from a quarter hitherto insuffiently explored.